Leigh Greenwood | Series, Series, Series

I didn’t set out to write series. I fell into it by accident. I was watching the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with my younger son about twenty years ago. We didn’t pay much attention. He was eight and preferred trying to wrestle his father to watching a musical even though it was his idea to watch the movie together. (Since he’s never watched a musical before or since, Providence’s hand must have been at work.) After it was over, I thought that seven brothers looking for wives would make a good idea for a series, never dreaming it would turn out to be an idea for me. Sometime later, I realized I had a group of brothers in my head. I didn’t know where they’d come from or why they were there, but they were remarkably well defined. A little bemused, I asked my agent what I should do about them. She suggested that I write a proposal, let her send it out, and see that happened. Thus was born the Seven Brides series.

A John Wayne movie, The Cowboys, gave me the idea for my The Cowboys series. He recruited schoolboys to help with a cattle drive. My idea was to have a school teacher looking for homes for orphan boys nobody wanted and a rancher in need of cowhands to help with a cattle drive. She could provide the love and sense of belonging they didn’t know how to accept while he provided the safety and sense of purpose they needed. I just had to figure out a way to get them together. It took thirteen books, but I finally helped each boy find the love and family he’d always wanted.

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Tracy Garrett | Happy “All Hallows Eve”

Most everyone knows that Halloween, October 31, is the day before All Saints or All Hallows Day. But did you know that some of our modern traditions grew from the ancient Celts more than 2000 years ago? The Celtic festival of Samhain, or the Feast of the Dead, celebrates the day when summer ends and winter begins. It is believed to be the day when the dead revisit the mortal world.

Carving pumpkins—or jack-o-lanterns—dates from the 18th century, when a blacksmith named Jack consorted with the devil and was condemned to wander the earth as punishment. He begged the Devil for some light and was given a burning coal, which he placed inside a hollowed-out turnip. When the Irish came to the United States during the great potato famine, the practice of keeping a turnip with a candle in it in the window to ward off the Halloween demons came with them. Since pumpkins were easier to get here than turnips, the substitution was made and a new tradition was born and shared.

Wearing costumes also dates back to Celtic times. On Samhain night, when the living and the dead were at their closest, the Celtic Druids would dress up in elaborate costumes to disguise themselves as spirits and devils to avoid being carried away by the real thing at the end of the night. To this day, witches, goblins, and ghosts remain the most popular choices for the costumes. I’m not sure many demons would be frightened off by Iron Man or Hannah Montana.

And the masks? From earliest times people wore hideous masks when disasters struck, believing they would frighten away the demons that had brought the misfortune upon them.

So, when you venture out tonight to ring doorbells and threaten tricks to get treats, beware! The spirits of the past will be looking over your shoulder. I suggest you share your candy.

Tracy Garrett

Tracy’s new western historical, Touched by Love, hits store shelves this week!
http://www.tracygarrett.com/

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Lee Aaron Wilson | Western Outlaws

Billy Killdeere is Western romantic historical fiction, right?
Right.

Is Billy Killdeere an outlaw, a lover, or both?
He was raised an outlaw and becomes the best gunman in his gang, but he also respects women and treats them like ladies. Part of the story has him helping a young woman in a whore house where the gang hides out. There's gunplay and then later when he's on the run, he's remembered as the man who rescued a woman from prostitution. Billy is considered a friend and hero to the "soiled doves" with whom he comes in contact. “Good” women enjoy his pleasant demeanor and charming smile, and he takes lovers until he meets Jenny. He can't marry Jenny, but no other woman fills the ache in his heart.

What is it about Killdeere’s story that attracts you as a writer?
Billy is a young man with the deck stacked against him, but he drives forward, determined to stop "hurting people what never hurt him." He fights no matter the odds. When Jenny is abducted, he is forced to ride on a dangerous and lucrative job. Despite lawmen, gang members and citizens who believe he's turned, he saves Jenny. Billy just isn't a quitter. He embodies a theme that seems to creep into most of my stories. "You ain't beat, no matter how many times you git knocked down, until you don't git up again."

What other characters and gunslingers interest you?
Will you be writing about any of them in the future?
Both real and fictional characters appeal to me. Matt Dillon played by James Arness comes to mind. The Sackett boys in the novels by L'Amour, and the way the actors Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott played them come to mind. I loved Have Gun, Will Travel, but I like my own characters better. Billy Killdeere and his cousins Ty and Davy are as real to me as family members. Charles Ritter from my upcoming novel, Prairie Rose, will show up in other stories, as well Cal Massey, a bad guy who has had enough and rides away. To me, the James boys and Billy the Kid were just criminals, although folk tales have grown up around them. The Earps and the Clantons were outlaws, warring factions. I follow them to study the writers' ideas, just as I do fictional heroes.

How can we contact you and follow your upcoming work?
Visit me at www.leebaldwinonline.com/ and www.trebleheartbooks.com/ or email me at leelawman@aol.com.

Lee Baldwin

“Billy Killdeere will keep you turning pages. Against the wishes of his family and to the disbelief of the law, he tries to leave the outlaw life. Billy quickly learns that riding the other side of the fence can be as tough as playing poker against a stacked deck.” -Douglas Sharp, Publisher, Western Digest

“Lee writes a solid story, with his characters and plot well developed and filled with action.
You couldn't spend a better evening than curled up next to the fireplace immersed in the story on the high lonesome trail with Billy Killdeere.” -Thom Nicholson, Colonel, U. S. Army Special Forces (Ret.)

Author, 15 Months in SOG: A Warrior’s Tour (Presidio Press/Random House)
“Billy Killdeere is the second edition of Lee's first book. Get it. It's another great read about the Killdeere outlaw clan by Lee.” -Kat Martin, New York Times Bestselling Author

Charlene Sands | Everything but the Kitchen Sink.

Five-Star Cowboy launches my first mini-series with Silhouette Desire called Suite Secrets. It’s a series I had a lot of fun writing and because I wanted the first of the three stories to include all of my favorite things, I threw in everything dear to me into this story.

So what do I love?

Well, location, location, location.

I love Arizona. I set my very first book there, a Kensington Precious Gem titled Chance in a Million. Now 25 books later, I’m still using Arizona as a primary setting for many of my stories.

Five-Star Cowboy takes place the fictional area known as Crimson Canyon, fashioned after Sedona, Arizona. Jutting mountains, deep colorful canyons and vistas from Mother Nature’s best day all play a part in my story.

I love cowboys.

What’s not to love about a rugged, man of the earth? I grew up watching Bonanza, The Big Valley, The Rifleman and so many more. Those stories dealt with family and values and taught me a thing or two about western life. The cowboy heroes were all men you could admire and trust.

So of course, the owner of the elite, exclusive dude ranch type Tempest West Hotel had to be sweet-talking, Stetson-wearing cowboy Trent Tyler. He made an appearance in the prequel to this story, The Corporate Raider’s Revenge and I fell in love instantly. No doubt, Trent had to have his own story!

I love horses.

As a young girl born in New York, I dreamed of owning a horse and when I arrived in California at the tender age of seven, I thought everyone lived on horse property. We were, after all, out west. Well, I didn’t get a horse, but I did to ride. I took English and Western riding lessons and visited the stables often. Part of my dream had come true.

So, yes we have horses in Five-Star Cowboy. Tempest West houses stables on the grounds and wild mustangs run free in Crimson Canyon on the property. Where would a cowboy be without his horse?

I love a good romantic legend.

We have that to. This contemporary story has roots that go back to an earlier time. Discover the legend of Destiny Lake!

I love country music.

I like all kinds of music, but I’m a country music junkie. Give me Tim and Faith, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith and Martina McBride and I’m in foot-stomping heaven.

So yes, you’ll find famous country western singer Sarah Rose (the heroine in November’s story) giving a rock solid performance at the lake!

Most of all I love a great love story!

Some of my early favorite books include, LaVyrle Spencer’s Hummingbird and Kathryn Woodwiss ’, The Flame and the Flower. For movies, I stop channel surfing at the old classic, It Happened One Night along with Operation Petticoat and Man’s Favorite Sport. I tend to like the light side of romance when it comes to movies, but more emotional tales when reading.

Yes, I tossed in everything but the kitchen sink in Five-Star Cowboy, a story that Romantic Time Book Reviews gave 4 ½ stars and deemed steamy and terrific!

I hope some of my favorite things are yours too.

Wishing you Suite Dreams, Suite Reading and Suite Secrets!

http://www.charlenesands.com/
http://www.petticoatsandpistols.com/

Kathryn Albright | A Rose by any other Name…

Traveling about the United States has always inspired my writing. I guess that is why, when I have the time, I prefer to drive places rather than fly.

Besides the names of mountains and lakes, the town and street names catch my eye. For example, my grandparents lived in Buzzards Bay on Cape Cod. Now doesn’t that sound like a great place to set in a story? Other “east coast” names that fascinate me are Nantucket Sound and Owls Head. The name Poughkeepsie in New York just makes me smile. It sounds like fun—and would be a light story. Roanoke and Claymont give away their “stuffy” British backgrounds. The name Nags Head makes me wonder what happened to the poor horse there—or was it about a discontented woman? (Probably neither—but there goes my imagination…) Women seem to get little respect from history as the names of most places related to them are similar to Crazy Woman Creek, Maggies Nipples, or Squaw Hill (all of Wyoming.)

Even old names of streets such as Gallows Road and Persimmon Tree Road start stories spinning through my head. Seven Locks Road—now there just has to be a story about covering up a murder in there somewhere.

My new release, The Rebel and the Lady, is set in San Antonio, Texas and the names of places there reflect the Spanish/Mexican/Indian heritage of the land. Nacogdoches, Cibolo, Gonzales are all surrounding towns. Apache Creek and the Brazos and Guadalupe Rivers are nearby and legends and stories abound of lovers leaps, mad woman hauntings, Comanche raids and buried gold. Dead Horse Gulch, Broken Man Trail, Agua Dulce (sweet or fresh water) all give rise to more story ideas.

Coyote Mesa, Buffalo Trail, Coon Hollow, Whiskey Ridge, Slipdown Mountain—well, you get the picture. Perhaps, as I suspect, only a writer or history buff has this strange affection for names and places. What about you? Do you live near or have you heard of a particular place with an unusual/interesting name?


Kathryn Albright
www.kathrynalbright.com/

Linda Lael Miller | Growing Up Western

I grew up in a little town in northeastern Washington state, a place called Northport. My dad was, really and truly, the town marshal. I was raised on stories, told mostly by my adopted grandmother, Florence Wiley, about 'old times', when she lived on a farm outside of Coffeyville, Kansas. In my childhood, she was usually working at the wood-burning cook stove while she told her stories, and that stove has been in every western I've ever written, always in the same part of the kitchen. Later, when the uncles went together and bought her an electric model, she hated it, claiming it burned everything, and banished it. The black iron and chrome Kitchen Queen was soon back in residence.

Her stories were great. Jesse James once slept in the family barn, and she clearly remembered the day the Dalton brothers tried to rob the bank in Coffeyville. The townspeople had gotten word that they were coming, and they were ready, on roof tops and between buildings, with rifles. The gang was annihilated--the shots were audible from the farm several miles outside of town--and later the bodies were displayed as a deterrent to budding outlaws. Grandma Wiley's father was ahead of his time, psychologically, and refused to take his children to town and parade them past those bloody corpses, like so many others were doing.

My dad and uncles were rodeo cowboys in their younger days--Uncle Jack Lael was a champion, rode at Madison Square Garden, and got to kiss Miss America, so I grew up around horses and tales of the baddest bulls and wildest broncos on the circuit, of course. When people ask me how I can make the old west seem so authentic in my books, I like to say it's because I was born and raised in it!

lindalaelmiller.com

Patrice Michelle - Turning Readers On!

I’ve been an avid reader since I was ten years old. Blame it on the elementary school’s reading program (re: read twenty books in a month and win a prize!). I wanted that prize, so I read the twenty books. Along the way, I discovered…I LOVED reading. Since then, I’ve always had my nose stuck in a book, much to my childhood best friend’s annoyance.

When I was in tenth grade and my older sister was in twelfth, she brought home an assigned reading book. The fiction book sat in the exact same spot she’d dumped it—on the chair next to the stairs—for days. After a week of passing by this book, I picked it up and read the blurb on the back. A mystery to solve and a love story…hmmm, it didn’t sound too bad. I sat down that night and read the entire book and I loved it! I was so excited about the story that I told my sister all about it, hoping I could get her excited enough to read it herself. While I blabbed on and on, my sister nodded and uh huh’d and smiled. The next day she wrote the book report and turned it in. Got a B, too. *rolling eyes* :-) So much for trying to get my sister interested in reading.

But that author had hooked me and I went on to read her entire backlist. I told other friends about her books, turning them onto this author’s work. To this day, I believe the best advertising an author can do is write the best story she can. Give her readers a great plot with interesting twists, main characters to empathize and fall in love with, and deeply emotional, heart-wrenching moments that will pull the reader into the story, making them feel like a participant as the tale unfolds.

When I sit down to write my own books, I keep in mind all the things about the books that I adored. From suspenseful plots to stories that make your heart twist, I try my best to create heroes and heroines who readers consider their friends. My goal is always to create a compelling story with engaging characters. If the readers close the book with a smile and wonder what’ll happen next in the main characters’ lives, then that’s the highest compliment in my mind, because that’s the standard I use as a reader that “hooks” me on books.

Do you remember what books/authors have hooked you such that you had to go out and tell everyone, from family to friends to YES, even strangers you meet in line at the bookstore, “You HAVE to read these books? They’re fantastic!” What was it about those books that really drew you in?

Patrice Michelle currently has three series available in print:

1) Scions (vampire, werewolf, paranormal)– Coming January 2008

2) Kendrian (vampire) – Available now

3) Bad in Boots (contemporary western)

– Available now For excerpts, blurbs and reviews of all Patrice's books, visit her website at http://www.patricemichelle.net/.

Jill Marie Landis | Welcoming Westerns Back

Aloha One and All:

A big Mahalo (thank you!) to Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog today. This is such a fabulous site, one that makes promotion painless for those authors like me who somehow look up from the monitor only to discover a year has gone by and I've yet to let readers know what's been going on and when to expect my next novel.

I'm pleased as punch to announce that next year my first single title novel for Steeple Hill will be published in July '08. The title is now officially, HOMECOMING, and for those of you who have read my early Western Historical Romances and have been asking for more, this one is for you.

Written as a Western Inspirational Romance, HOMECOMING is the kind of story I love to tell about characters who find the strength to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It's a book that romance readers can pass along to their daughters and grandmothers as well. Whenever anyone asks how I was able to switch from secular romance novels that were on the sensual side to Inspirational Romance, I remind them that I've always tried to instill a sense of hope and triumph into every "heartwarming" tale I've written. HOMECOMING is that and more. It was a pleasure to add an element of faith to the novel.

In June of next year, Harlequin will publish the wedding anthology, DESTINATION: MARRIAGE, which will include my novella entitled "Trouble in Paradise." It's a lighthearted story set on Kauai about a heroine who has decided the island is sending her signs and omens not to go ahead with the wedding and a hero who is left with but a few hours to convince her not to cancel.

I'm actually proofing the final draft today and then I'll be emailing it off to NYC, clearing the desk so that I can finish up my second Steeple Hill single title--which is due in February! (There's no rest for the weary, but I wouldn't have it any other way.)

Lately I've been thrilled by the fact that Westerns seem to be making a comeback, not only in the romance genre, but on film as well. Day before yesterday there was an article on USA Today online about the return of the Western (Westerns Shoot Their Way Back) with none other than Brad Pitt starring in "The Assassination of Jesse James." The article claims Westerns never really died, they were just gut shot. Here's to more romance novels set in the West.

Unfortunately, I suppose my novella isn't going to proof itself no matter how long I let it sit on the desk, so I'll close for now. Please do check my website at http://www.jillmarielandis.com/ where I try to keep readers up with last minute news (perhaps it's months old by now!) and there is a blog there as well at http://www.jillmarielandis.com/blog

So for now, aloha hui hou (aloha until we meet again)...Jill Marie Landis